After a bit of flirting between Juniper and me, Sara also finally decides to show up for breakfast.

“Wow everyone’s togheter, how rare. Wait, how did the counter go up by 10 points since yesterday?!”

Oh god, that stupid thing is still giving us points? When do we even get graded on our dorm-room experiment thingy? I really hope they only monitor us via an AI like they said though…

“W-Who knows, maybe because Juniper cooked me this killer breakfast?”

“Hey, the points never went up when I cooked you breakfast!”

“Just proves how much better Juniper’s cooking is~”

“I can make the points go up too! Here, eat this!”

She’s leaning over the table holding a spoon full of Juniper’s scrambled eggs… Ooeehh… This is awkward, I don’t really want to flirt with Sara when Juniper’s also here.

I look over to Juniper for approval, but her eyes are staring daggers at Sara. I’ve never seen such blood-lust in her eyes…

“L-Look Sara, for your safety, let’s not worry about points right now, we have plenty…”

Although I don’t actually know how many we need…

“How boring! Then I’ll just take a bite from your food.”

She grabs the spoon I was holding and smugly puts it into her mouth. I look over at Juniper and… Wait a minute… Was she always gripping that kitchen knife so tightly?!

*PA-DING*

Oh god, you’re not helping counter!

I have to defuse the situation somehow, I don’t want to end up on the news…

“S-So Sara does your class not have a dungeon practical?”

“Nah, only the wood class has to do a practical this early into the year, me and Juniper only have to do one at the end of the second semester, after thoroughly preparing. well, that does also mean that we only have one chance at a class promotion.”

“Damn, wouldn’t an early dungeon practical be dangerous for the wood class then? Seems like the school doesn’t really care if they live or die during the examination...”

Suddenly Juniper, who was cutting vegetables for tonight’s dinner, interjects:

“Haven’t you heard yet?”

“Hear what?”

“Oh dear… Well, some students were gossiping that the wood class failed their practical, I’m afraid that not all the students will return to the academy in one piece…”

“Wait, seriously? I have friends in the wood class!”

I expected Sara to maybe tease me with a: ‘you have friends?’, but it looks like she understands my concerns:

“I heard from a teacher that the wood class would be returning this afternoon, if you go the campus right now, you might find your friends there in the school-infirmary. I hope you’ll find them…”

“T-Thanks Sara.”

Juniper interjects again:

“I’ll go with you!”

“Thanks, but no need Juniper, I’m only going to check up on my friends. They’re no pushovers, I’m sure they survived.”

“O-Okay.”

She’s so sweet… But I also don’t want her to see my face in case… No, don’t think like that Reo, they’ll be fine.

After a couple of minutes of speed-walking towards the school-infirmary, I’m finally greeted by a familiar face, it’s miss Sato. She’s wearing something revealing again today… No, don’t get distracted Reo.

“Miss Sato, did Fudo or Lance come back from the practical already?”

“Oh, you’re the lucky boy who shares a dorm with our ice princess right? I’m surprised you don’t visit more often, skewered by multiple icicles… Let me see, Fudo you said right?... Yeah he should be the guy lying next to-”

I look behind miss Sato into the treatment room, rows of beds line both walls, somewhere in the middle I can spot a familiar delinquent.

Before she can finish her sentence, I squeeze past miss Sato, who doesn’t put up much resistance.

“FUDO! Is everything alright?!”

“Reo? What are you doing here? You didn’t inform my sister that I’m laying here right?! She would be worried sick...”

He’s laying here, wrapped in bandages, and he’s still worried about his little sister…

“No, don’t worry, I just heard that the wood class returned early after failing to conquer the tower… What happened?”

*SIGH* “Everything was going well at first, floors one through four were pretty difficult, but nothing that we couldn’t handle with the things we learned in the training camp. Me and Lance were even leading in points… But we encountered a problem on the fifth floor…”

“What happened?”

“We encountered a relatively strong goblin warrior, but while me and Lance where fighting it, the goblin suddenly grew in power! He gained explosive strength and we couldn’t keep up with his speed anymore…”

“How could that happen? Did it mutate mid-fight or something?”

“Well, that’s how mr. Ito explained it, but he also commented that usually, only boss-monsters could suddenly mutate like that… I… I think I saw one of Kaori’s followers activate a cartridge right before the goblin suddenly grew in strength… But I have no proof.”

“That does seem like something that bastard would order his minions to do… What happened after that?”

“After that my memory is blurry, the goblin warrior knocked away my shield and cut me up pretty badly, I would have probably been death if it wasn’t for Lance… If it wasn’t for Lance’s sacrifice…”

His sacrifice… No… Don’t tell me…